Untitled

Huguette Caland’s passion and skill in the field of fashion design are to the fore in this canvas offered at auction, with her hallmark intricate detailing evident in floral margins combined with bold lines typical of her style. The pattern is pretty and romantic, yet the signature black lines that cut across the canvas and indeed weave through much of her work are given a different treatment in the centre, ensuring this piece also has an edgy, contemporary feel.

A Lebanese painter, sculptor and fashion designer, Caland was born in 1931 and studied art at the American University of Beirut. She divided her time between France and California for many years, gaining a considerable following in Paris. Her work is intriguing, often erotic and vacillating between the overt and explicit, and suggestive and subtle. Women, their bodies and their place in the world are recurring themes in Caland’s work, inevitably, since she decided to spend time alone working in France, leaving her husband and children to do so, even though she remained committed to them all. Caland’s work has been exhibited extensively across the globe. The artist has enjoyed a deserved upsurge in popularity recently, with her work featured in the Hammer Museum’s 2016 Made in LA biennial, the Sharjah Biennial and is currently on show at Tate St Ives in the UK.